Field
Embodiments of this present invention generally relate to laser systems, and more specifically, to the application of laser pulses during surgical procedures such as laser-assisted ophthalmic surgery.
Background
Eye surgery is now commonplace with some patients pursuing it as an elective procedure to avoid using contact lenses or glasses and others pursuing it to correct adverse conditions such as cataracts. Moreover, with recent developments in laser technology, laser surgery has become the technique of choice for ophthalmic procedures. Laser eye surgery typically uses different types of laser beams, such as ultraviolet lasers, infrared lasers, and near-infrared, ultra-short pulsed lasers, for various procedures and indications.
A surgical laser beam is preferred over manual tools like microkeratomes as it can be focused accurately on extremely small amounts of ocular tissue, thereby enhancing precision and reliability. For example, in the commonly-known LASIK (Laser Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) procedure, an ultra-short pulsed laser is used to cut a corneal flap to expose the corneal stroma for photoablation with an excimer laser. Ultra-short pulsed lasers emit radiation with pulse durations as short as 10 femtoseconds and as long as 3 nanoseconds, and a wavelength between 300 nm and 3000 nm. Besides cutting corneal flaps, ultra-short pulsed lasers are used to perform cataract-related surgical procedures, including capsulorhexis, capsulotomy, as well as softening and/or breaking of the cataractous lens.
In laser surgery performed with an ultra-short pulsed laser, the laser engine is configured to deliver a laser beam with ultra-short pulse durations (which may be as long as a few nanoseconds or as short as a few femtoseconds) to a patient's eye. Temporal pulse profile and the pulse width are generally static in that they do not change during a procedure or during different phases of a procedure. Nor do they change when different procedures are performed separately, such as, for example, a capsulorhexis, a capsulotomy, lens fragmentation, corneal incisions, and the like.
Nevertheless, some issues may arise during different surgical procedures. As a specific example, certain types of ophthalmic incisions may require one type of laser profile, while another type of incision may benefit from a profile having a different pulse length. Conventional laser systems have a limited or non-existent ability to change the laser pulse profile. Where the ability is limited, the laser pulse may be changed to a desired profile, but only after one phase of a surgical procedure is completed with the initial profile. To change the laser's pulse profile, an operator must manually adjust the positions of certain system components, or make time consuming changes to the components themselves. Once this process is completed, the device may be powered on to commence another phase of the procedure. As may be appreciated, time delay is highly undesirable.
As such, there is a need for an ultra-short pulsed surgical laser system that overcomes the limited pulse profile capabilities available in conventional systems. In particular, it would be beneficial to offer a more robust ability to alter laser pulse profiles during laser-assisted refractive and cataract surgeries.
Embodiments of this invention include a surgical laser system and method for performing ophthalmic surgery. The laser system includes a laser engine configured to deliver a pulsed beam to a patient's eye, wherein the engine includes a compressor configured to compress laser light energy received, the compressor comprising a dispersion or spectrum altering component provided on a computer controlled stage connected to a computing device. A user provides an input to a computing device regarding a desired pulse width causes the computing device to reposition the stage and the component provided thereon, which results in a different pulse length to be transmitted by the laser engine.
This summary and the following detailed description are merely exemplary, illustrative, and explanatory, and are not intended to limit, but to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the descriptions that follow, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description, claims and the appended drawings.